Friday was a

Monday, August 20, 2001

Friday was a good night. I didn't go out to the bars as I sort of wanted to do, but I got a call from Brian Kelly, the computer genius, to go out to his house for a "reunion" of sorts with a bunch of people I used to hang out with in high school. Included in them with Smalls, John Zarr, Scotty, Jackie, and Amy. We hung out a lot in high school, but most of them are very, very smart and headed towards huge, huge accomplishments in the future. They've been scattered throughout the country doing their own thing, so it's hard to get people together. Back in high school, we'd go over to Brian's and hang out in his basement and watch movies and talk, just as we did on Friday. The only difference is that in high school, our group was probably 12 people strong. When we can get 5-6 people of the original 12 together, we feel very accomplished.

I also ran into this guy at a supermarket who I thought had left town to head for Vegas or LA or something. But, Vegas and LA were not on the agenda for this fella. I knew he was full of shit. I won't name names... yet. I'm sure the filthy liar feels bad enough. He'll come out of hiding soon.

This weekend I also did a lot to prepare to sell my Jeep. I've only had it for 8 months or so, but I'm already kind of sick of it. My dad and I checked out some BMW 325is on the internet, which are, remarkably, cheaper than what my Jeep is worth. I may be able to sell my Jeep and buy a BMW, while making a little profit on the side. Plus it's just a better car for road trips and such, and I plan on driving a lot after going freelance. The BMW I test drove had this awesome little gauge for monitoring gas mileage. As you step on the gas, this gauge goes down and shows you're getting like 5 mpg. As you let up or shift, it goes up to about 30 mpg. Amazing stuff. Oh, and heated leather seats, an electric sunroof, onboard computer, etc. etc. It's a far cry from my Jeep that doesn't even have cruise control or automatic locks, for a price that's probably cheaper if I get the money out of my Jeep that it's worth.

And finally, last night, we had our 4th bat scare. I was watching Growing Pains True Hollywood Story and I swear I heard something in my wall. So I called Fabish in and we were sitting there like idiots with our ears to the wall and we kept hearing weird scratching. We figured it was a mouse or something, even though we definitely discussed the possibility of it being a bat. It seemed unlikely that a bat would be in the wall, ya know? So, figuring that a mouse is harmless and kind of cute, even, we didn't do much to help the problem.

Later in the night I was dinking around online when I heard the same unmistakable flapping from the ceiling. I told Fabish the problem and he wanted to tape the whole thing. Unfortunately my camcorder was out of batteries so we plugged it in to charge it, shut the door to my room, and waited. About 20 minutes had gone by and Alan got home, visited for a while, and was informed of our little bat problem. He got a phone call and went into his room to talk, but upon opening the door screamed out "OH SHIT! THE FUCKING BAT IS IN MY ROOM! OH SHIT! HE'S FUCKING BIG!" Without a doubt, he was the biggest bat we had seen up until this point. I grabbed the camcorder and started taping as Fabish got a bucket and a towel and Alan grabbed a broom. We marched into Alan's room, hit the bat into the bucket, and covered it with a towel. It was really quite remarkable. We took it outside and let it go. At first, the bat would not leave the bucket. We all hovered above it, looking in, and it flew out, scaring all of us and sending us all backwards. It flew around a few times, coming within inches of hitting all of us before finally flying away.

So, our new theory is that these bats are somehow getting in the walls and moving room to room inside them. How to stop the bat problem? Ah... not too sure, but hopefully winter will just kill them off. Can bats survive winter or do they hibernate or something? Something to look into I guess.